Academic excellence nets $18,000 for 125 RHS studentsMonday afternoon was pay day for 125 Russellville High School students who scored a 3, 4, or 5 on advanced placement (AP) tests in English, Math and Science. On Monday the 10th-12th grade students from last year who scored a 3, 4 or 5 on the AP tests for English, Math and Science received $100 gift certificates for each test. In all, 180 gift cards with a total value of $18,000 was handed out to achieving students. RHS is part of the Arkansas ...

A work in progressProject by project over the past 17 years, Arkansas Tech University has reshaped its appearance with more than $210 million in upgrades to its campus infrastructure. But when ATU President Dr. Robert C. Brown speaks about facility upgrades, his focus is on the work that remains rather than the work that has been accomplished. “The truth is, we are never really finished,” Brown said. “The physical presence of Arkansas Tech must constantly evolv...

School board elections TuesdayWith Election Day for school board elections two days away, Russellville voters are urged to check their newly-drawn school zones one more time before heading to the polls Tuesday. Following the Sept. 18 election, the board will be split between five members representing one of the newly-established zones, and two at-large members. In previous years, all positions on the Russellville School Board were at-large. The board was required to vote b...

A strong foundationAs vice president for development at Arkansas Tech University, Jayne Jones encounters one misconception perhaps more than any other. “Many of our alumni and friends believe that they must be in a position to donate a large amount of money in order to make a difference for our students,” Jones said. “The truth is that all gifts, regardless of the dollar amount, are valuable and appreciated. What is important is for our alumni and friends who su...

Talks to end Chicago teachers strike make progressCHICAGO (AP) — The city’s public schools will stay closed for at least one more day, but leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union and the school district kept talking Thursday, with both sides saying they were drawing closer to a deal to end the nearly weeklong strike. “We are optimistic, but we are still hammering things out,” said Karen Lewis, the union president. Word of the progress in negotiations came less than a day after the school board ...

Chicago teachers union president is brash advocateCHICAGO (AP) — She’s brash and blunt, a union leader known for her tart tongue and flip one-liners often aimed at Mayor Rahm Emanuel in a bitter contract dispute regarded as a referendum on the future of Chicago schools. But Karen Lewis — who recently referred to the high-stakes talks as “the silly part” of her day — also is a whip-smart Ivy League graduate with a long, distinguished record in the classroom and the overwhelming support of her ...

Tech offers college planning programHigh school students from throughout the Arkansas River Valley will be in Russellville on Thursday, Sept. 20, for an Arkansas Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (ArkACRAO) College Planning Program. The event will be hosted by the Arkansas Tech University Office of Admissions and will expose high school students to information from universities, colleges, vocational-technical schools and military branches. The daytime ...

Early voting for school board elections begins TuesdayWith early voting for the school board election beginning in two days, candidates have spent much effort posting signs and reaching out to voters their zones. The Courier reached out to six candidates in three contested Russellville School Board races to give them the chance to explain why they have what it takes to represent their zones. Early voting for the election will begin on Tuesday and continue through Sept. 17 between 8 a.m. to 5 p.m ...

Arkansas Tech University enrollment nears 11,000Fourteen years and counting. That is the unprecedented streak of consecutive record enrollments at Arkansas Tech University after the institution announced Friday its fall 2012 enrollment is 10,972 students. Enrollment at ATU has increased by 4.9 percent over the past 12 months. Arkansas Tech has 8,939 students on its main campus in Russellville and 2,033 students on its Ozark campus. Fall 2012 enrollment figures became official at the end of ...

Go, fight, winDARDANELLE — Despite the severe thunderstorms that came through the Arkansas River Valley on Friday night, the Dardanelle High School marching band entertained the Sand Lizards crowd before the first home football game of the season Friday night at Keenan Field. The 118-member band kicked off the game with a show that consisted of a sequence of non-stop songs after the visiting band for the Mayflower Eagles played its alma mater. Then, the DHS...

Local teens invited to national conferenceArea school districts have been invited to present at the School Boards Association’s 73rd annual conference in San Diego, Calif., April 13-15. This is the first time teens have been invited to present at the conference. “We are just so excited to be chosen for this great honor,” Jerry Don Woods, vice president of the Dardanelle School President Association, said. “It’s an honor for the students and the adults who participate in the Teen Leade...

Shadow days at Subiaco boarding schoolSubiaco Academy, a Catholic Benedictine boarding and day school for young men located in western Arkansas, is hosting two Shadow Days for prospective students and their parents interested in exploring the Academy’s junior and senior high college prep program. The events, scheduled for Friday, Sept. 21 and Friday, Oct. 5, are open to boys in grades 6-10. Prospective boarders and early arrivals can spend Thursday night before each Shadow Day in ...

Investing in the futureGreg Grant is serious about education and passionate about his new role as the director for the Russellville Adult Education Center (RAEC). After 28 years of working as a coach, a teacher and administrator in the public school system, Grant was ready for a new challenge. Working at the RAEC proved to be just the challenge he was looking for, he said. Grant, an Arkansas Tech University alumnus, said one of his priorities, other than building on...

Keeping up with the WildcatsWas a new iPad on your back-to-school shopping list? While it wasn’t on the required school lists, it might have been on many wish lists of both the students and their parents. For the more than 50 Hector ninth grade students it was a wish granted Monday night during a special meeting between educators, ninth graders and their parents. At the meeting, each Hector ninth grade student was issued an iPpad to use at school and at home. In an effor...

RSD steps forward with Common CoreArkansas schools are continuing this year with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards initiative — a set of standards instructors are required to teach their students after Arkansas adopted the initiative two years ago. Of the initiative, adopting states were given the option to choose between two guidelines -- Smarter balance and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC), the latter of which Ar...

Many Tech freshmen looking to medical, engineering fieldsAs the Arkansas Tech University Class of 2016 begins its journey to college graduation this week, many of those freshmen are majoring in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields believed to be critical to Arkansas’ economic development during the 21st century. Nursing, engineering, bio-medical, early childhood education and management and marketing are the five most popular major fields of study among freshmen at Arka...

School —anywhere, anytimeConvenience, educational opportunities, low teacher-student ratios, religion and dissatisfaction with the public school systems are just some of the reasons more than 80 families in the Arkansas River Valley choose to homeschool their children. Russellville Education Association of Christian Homeschoolers (REACH) is an organization that offers support for families in the area who choose to homeschool their children. REACH membership coordinato...

Personalized educationMore than 120 students in the Arkansas River Valley attend one of two private schools in Russellville. St. John Catholic School, Montessori Pre-K through fifth grade, has been educating children in the River Valley since 1947 and has been at its current location at 1912 West Main St. in Russellville since 1956. Principal Mark Tyler said the first teachers were Benedictine Sisters from Saint Scholastica Convent in Fort Smith who lived on-site i...

Tech fair draws more than 2,000Arkansas Tech University students met Russellville and the community met Arkansas Tech students in a big way on Monday night. More than 2,000 people turned out for the Arkansas Tech Involvement Fair, which was organized by the Tech Office of Student Services on the plaza between Hindsman Tower and Baswell Techionery. More than 70 student organizations and more than 30 community businesses were represented at the event. Similar events have been...

First day of school like clockworkThe first day of school can be a guessing game for many schools, its teachers and administrators. At Dardanelle Elementary School, principal Terry Laughinghouse said the first day of school went so smoothly, he was afraid it might be the calm before the storm. “It has been awesome,” Laughinghouse said of the first day of school. “The students have been well behaved. The teachers have all stepped up and offered amazing support and organization ...